The Chinese say they’re building a propulsion system that could take a crew to Mars in 40 days with no fuel.
It’s called the electromagnetic drive, “emdrive” for short, and it’s the brainchild of British scientist Roger Shawyer (sorry, no link. Hmm,) who was laughed off the island and into the arms of Xi’an’s Northwestern Polytechnical Univeristy.
The theory is based off, as best I can tell, an electromagnetic wave being run through a canonical chamber to create thrust without fuel, simply electricity. I’m still trying to work it out myself, it’s all technical and therefore kind of a stretch for my layman’s understanding. Check it out for yourself.
So, cool theory, neat tech, you say. Here’s the kicker:
The possibilities are phenomenal: Instead of going out of service when they run out of fuel, satellites would have greatly extended endurance and be able to move around at will. (We wouldn’t have to shoot them down because of the risk from toxic fuel either.) Deep space probes could go further, faster –- and stop when they arrive. Shawyer calculates that a solar-powered Emdrive could take a manned mission to Mars in 41 days. Provided it works, of course.
To give you a bit of perspective, with current explosive fuel drives it would take humans nine months (270 days.) Of course the 41 days is probably a blue-sky figure factoring a favorable orbital proximity, but even so if he’s right that’s ridiculously short.
The implication: we could see the start of a new space race for redevelopment of this so-called Emdrive if it works. Apparently the Americans are involved at some level, according to Wired, but c’mon. Like the Chinese are really going to let us just walk in and have their blueprints.
It could be just another scientific crock, like when the Koreans said they cloned a person. Or it could be the most radical change in human travel since we started making mechanical engines. For one thing, if Shawyer can produce anything viable, even theory that could be independently reviewed and duplicated, why did the Brits let him loose long enough to get scooped by the Chinese? That’s, like, on the front page of the book Bad Things We Don’t Want To Happen. “CHAPTER ONE: Smart people – do not get to go China and sell all of our shit.” Also, our electromagnetic technology has reached a point where we can do pretty powerful shit with nanofibers…So why can’t they produce something really tiny with this theory? Like one of those Boy Scout derby cars you carve outta wood with one of these things attached to it. Fuck, even if you need an engine the size of a city to move a thimble with some buttons I’ll be dancing in the street. I know, I know, funding, whatever, but still…it’s fishy. Mighty fishy.
I’m willing to give them enough rope to hang themselves by, at least. If it’s true, I’m going to learn as much Mandarin as I can and sign up for the first colony ship. No, I don’t care that it’ll only be Chinese nationals and I’ll be 70. I’m gonna be a fucking Martian.
